India will “very soon” make a request to Malaysia for the extradition of Zakir Naik, charged by the NIA for radicalising youth, the government said on Friday. This comment came in the wake of reports that the Islamic preacher was there after being given permanent residency.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson, Raveesh Kumar, also said that India’s internal legal process before approaching a foreign country with an extradition request was nearing completion.

When asked about reports that Naik has been given permanent residency by Malayasia, which maintained that it has not received any official request from India related to terrorism allegations, Kumar said: “Our legal process is nearing completion and we will be making an extradition request very soon,” and the nature of the extradition request will be known in the next few days.

The NIA has charged Naik and the Mumbai-based non-profit Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) that he founded in 1991 with indulging in unlawful activities and promoting religious hatred.